We started off our Thanksgiving break by going to
ICE! (click for more details) at the Gaylord Texan. 2 million pounds of intricately hand carved ice telling the story of How The Grinch Stole Christmas. WOW. It was just awesome! If you live in the area, you have got to go to this! Not only was the ice part of it amazing, but the hotel itself as well. It is decorated beautifully for the Christmas season and is just such a nice hotel! We had never been before, but I'm glad we went this year. Its something we have talked about doing before but wanted to wait until Cali was older. This year was the perfect year to go. Plus, we went early in the week and early in the day to avoid the crowds. And avoid crowds we did. No lines! Anyways, get ready for LOTS of pictures. . . .
The beautiful hotel. Santa is actually in the water driving a speedboat, but you can't tell in this picture.
A very tall toy soldier to greet guests
The festive atrium-I bet this place is gorgeous at night. I think next time we go, we'll try and go in the evening. But I know its more crowded in the evening, so I don't know what is more worth it. . .

Joey and the girls in front of the ginormous Christmas tree

Ella thought of this pose all on her own:)

The lone star ceiling

After soaking in the atmosphere, we went to get our Ice tickets. Here is Cali ready to rock! She was so cute in her parka. You couldn't even see her little hands:) So, the area you walk through is kept at a chilling 9 degrees. They give everyone parkas to wear(which also helps you to slide down the ice slides later in the attraction). Word to the wise, if you go, bring winter coats, gloves and hats. Even with the parka, its very cold!

Excited to go inside!

This is all ice. Crazy.


Posing with a huge chunk of Grinch ice

So before you walk in, you get this spiel on how not to touch the ice, other than the slides. Well, Cali had a really hard time obeying this rule. We were constantly telling her to stop touching everything. And not only did she touch, she tasted. Joey couldn't resist letting her lick a little for a photo op:)

The girls and I in the ice tunnel. So pretty!

I thought this ice wall was pretty cool. When you turned the corner, there was a room full of ice slides. I don't have pictures of it-doh! But I took a couple of video clips of the kiddos. I'll post those later.

The whos singing their song

Cali watching with her little tongue sticking out
The girls and the grinch and a mighty big roast beast.
I have to say this was my favorite part. At the end, there was a nativity made of ice-it was truly beautiful. I loved how they did this and even played a message about Jesus Christ and His birth.

After we were done walking through and our hands and toes thawed out, we watched the Grinch cartoon movie on a big screen there. Then we bought the kids a Grinch ornament to remember our visit(It was only 4.95! They got us:) Then, the kids played on this little train. It was stationary, but still provided some entertainment:)

And then we walked around the hotel a little more and found this life-size real gingerbread house. I read somewhere that there were like 300,000 m&ms on this thing! And I don't even know how many pounds of gingerbread.

This is an amazing place to check out with your family during the holidays. I've heard it gets crowded closer to Christmas so go soon if you can!